Nintendo Co. will offer new wireless features for its DS portable video game player, including a free service that will let consumers beam game demos and other content directly to the device.

Beginning in late March, the company plans to deploy electronic kiosks at thousands of U.S. retailers including Best Buy Co. and GameStop Corp.

Owners of the dual-screen DS who go near the kiosks will automatically receive a notice on their devices offering game demos, movie trailers and other content for temporary download. The information will be erased from the DS once it's turned off.

The service uses the DS' regional wireless networking capabilities, which had been used just to facilitate head-to-head play by gamers near each other.

Nintendo also said it was adding voice chat to the sci-fi action game Metroid Prime: Hunters, available March 20. Players who join up for multiplayer battles over Nintendo's wireless Internet service will be able to talk to one another through the system's built-in microphone before and after games, but not during, said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing.